Graceful viewers,
welcome to Animal World:
Our Co-Inhabitants.
Today’s show is the first
in a two-part series
where we explore
the intelligence
of chimpanzees
and their sophisticated
social structures with
Dr. Tetsuro Matsuzawa,
director of Kyoto
University’s Primate
Research Institute
in Inuyama City, Japan.

He has spent over
three decades studying
wild chimpanzees
and made
significant discoveries
regarding
their abilities and skills.
He has published
many books and papers
based on his findings.
Dr. Matsuzawa is also
known for pioneering
a new field of research
called “comparative
cognitive science”
which involves
studying chimpanzees for
clues as to how human
intelligence and behavior
evolved over time.

The chimpanzee is
the most intimate being,
and can be called
an evolutionary neighbor
for a man.
If we can understand
a chimpanzee well,
we can also understand
animals other than
human beings.

For his important
research work
on chimpanzees,
Dr. Matsuzawa received
the Prince Chichibu
Memorial Science Award
in 1991, the Jane Goodall
Award in 2001,
and the Medal with
a Purple Ribbon from
the Japanese government
in 2004.
Let us now learn more
about his study of
these primates in Africa.

We hear that you go to
Africa every year.
And you are also studying
the social behavior
of wild chimpanzees.
First of all,
please explain to us
their family structure
and how they live
in the forests.

Chimpanzees live
only in Africa.
They exist nowhere else
but the equatorial forests
of Africa and areas
of savanna surrounded
by these forests.
Their habitats are
distributed widely
from Tanzania
in the east to Guinea
or Senegal in the west.
Their family or their
society is mostly made up
of tens of chimpanzees
or sometimes
over a hundred.
So they live together
in groups.

The group consists of
multiple male and female
adult chimpanzees, and
of course their children.
Male baby chimpanzees
stay among the group
all their lives.
But female chimpanzees
leave the group or
transfer to the next or
nearby group whenever
they reach adulthood
or enter puberty and
are ready to give birth.
We call it
a paternal society
meaning a society
built on fathers.

We are beings with
98.8 % the same genome.
Our common ancestor
existed maybe about
six million years ago.
But since about
six million years ago,
a man evolved into a man,
and a chimpanzee
evolved into a chimpanzee.

Similar to human beings,
chimpanzees living
in different areas
may experience
unique conditions and
surroundings and thus
acquire specialized or
different knowledge
and skills.
Scientists also believe
that the development
of some abilities
are not connected with
the environment
and are culturally
learned behaviors.
For example the chimps
living in Bossou, Guinea
in Western Africa,
like their counterparts
living in other places,
use leaves to quench
their thirst by placing
them inside a tree hole
and letting them soak up
the water inside.

However only the Bossou
chimpanzees have been
seen folding the leaf
in their mouth to create
a small vessel and then
placing the tool
into the water source.
Other behaviors
thought unique to the
Bossou chimps include
feeding on algae by
skimming the surface of
ponds using the stem of
a fern or other plant
and then placing the stem
in their mouth.

We hear that a chimpanzee
is intelligent enough
to use tools like a man.
Would you enlighten us
with what kind of tools
they are using and
what for with an example? v
Chimpanzees are known
for using various kinds
of tools, but
the important thing is
that they use
a unique tool based on
their own cultural heritage
that vary
according to each area.
For example,
what I have been
studying is chimpanzees
living around a small
village called Bossou in
Guinea, Western Africa.
They use a set of stones:
one as a base and
the other as a hammer
to crack hard seeds
of palm trees.

This is a palm.
Press it a little,
won’t you? (Yes.)
It’s hard, isn‘t it?
We cannot eat it like this.
But when cracked, open,
seeds or nuts like
almonds are inside.
Chimpanzees crack
the hull using a hammer
and a base and then
eat the nuts.
These are the tools that
they are actually using:
a hammer and a base.
They get on a stone
or a base like this.
This is a stone hammer.
They have been using it
again and again
for generations,
so there is a dent
on the surface.
This stone is heavy.
Just check the weight.

Oh, it’s heavy, isn’t it?
I notice the dent
on the surface.

They crack the hull and
take the nuts out
and eat it.
This is the most famous
tool used by chimpanzees
in Bossou.

A team of archaeologists
led by Julio Mercader of
the University of Calgary
in Canada found
stone hammers used by
chimpanzees living
4,300 years ago in an area
that is now a part of
the modern-day African
nation of Cote-d'Ivoire.
Their research concluded
that the practice of using
these tools to crack nuts
was not the result
of imitating humans,
but rather something
independently discovered
by the primates,
with the knowledge
then being passed down
through the generations
to the present day.

This palm seed doesn’t
seem edible by itself.
Nobody knows
we can eat the inside and
that there are nuts inside.
But when
parent chimpanzees are
cracking the hull, baby
chimpanzees stare at it,
and the knowledge that
“there are nuts inside
this seed, and
when cracked by using
a set of stones:
a hammer and a base,
the nuts inside are edible”
as well as the technique
itself has been passed
to children
from their parents
for generations.

And what is interesting is
that parents do not teach,
they just show
how to do it.
Child chimpanzees watch
and learn by observing.
We call this
“without teaching” or
“learning by watching.”
In English it is called
“education by
master- apprenticeship.”
This is a way of learning
where a student or
an apprentice views how
a mother or a master
is doing something
for a long period of time
and learns it by watching.

Active teaching means
teaching by using hands
and directing
by oral language.
There is
no active teaching
among chimpanzees.

So I think in the case of
transmitting traditional
skills to successors
or for posterity,
“education by a master”
or apprenticeship,
what these chimpanzees
are doing, is probably
the most basic form of
transmitting traditions
for posterity.

Through his research,
Dr. Matsuzawa
also found that
wild chimpanzees living
in Bassou have learned to
recognize and deactivate
complex snare traps set
by humans without injury.
This behavior has kept
the Bassou population
relatively safe
from these hazards.
In other chimpanzee
communities where
this knowledge is lacking,
sadly some members
have been severely hurt
by the traps.

Our research group has
just recently reported
that chimpanzees
can dismantle traps
set up by humans.

The trap is not set up
for a chimpanzee,
but for a smaller animal
like a rat.
There are snare traps
to catch them
throughout Africa.
A looped wire is wound
on the end of
a bowed stick, and when
a small animal steps on
the stick, its spring makes
the wire bind tightly
around the object.
A hand or a leg of
a chimpanzee is trapped
by such a snare trap.
And the snare trap used
to be made of a vine,
so even if a chimpanzee
was trapped,
escape was possible.

But nowadays
it is made of a wire,
thus it won’t decompose.
Chimpanzees keep losing
fingers or toes because of
tightly binding traps.
These incidents
have been happening
all over Africa.
Chimpanzees of Bossou
know the shape of
a snare trap, and adult
chimpanzees smash down
the trap because
the knowledge and skill
to dismantle the trap
have been transmitted
for generations just as in
the case of transmission
of tradition and culture.

As I have mentioned
before,
cultural tradition varies
according to regions,
and a child watches
and imitates what
parents are doing.
You can consider
the behavior of
dismantling a trap
as a variation of using
various kinds of tools.

Wow, how smart they are!
Our admiring big hug,
sweet and clever chimps!
And our gratitude
Dr. Tetsuro Matsuzawa,
for sharing
your insightful research
that is helping
many more people
appreciate the intelligent
and loving nature of
our chimpanzee friends
and other animals as well.

Lovely viewers,
please join us again
next Thursday
on Animal World:
Our Co-Inhabitants
when Dr. Matsuzawa will
introduce more of
his fascinating findings
as we further explore
the beautiful emotional
and intellectual worlds
of chimpanzees.

For more details
on Dr. Matsuzawa,
please visit

We enjoyed
your company today
on our program.
Coming up next is
Enlightening Entertainment
after Noteworthy News.
May Earth’s inhabitants
always live with love
and respect for each other.

Beautiful viewers,
welcome to Animal World:
Our Co-Inhabitants.
Today’s show is the final part
of a two-part series
where we explore
the intelligence
of chimpanzees
and their sophisticated
social structures with
Dr. Tetsuro Matsuzawa,
director of Kyoto
University’s Primate
Research Institute
in Inuyama City, Japan.
He has spent over
three decades studying
wild chimpanzees
and made
significant discoveries
regarding
their abilities and skills.
He has published
many books and papers
based on his findings.

For his important
research work
on chimpanzees,
Dr. Matsuzawa received
the Prince Chichibu
Memorial Science Award
in 1991, the Jane Goodall
Award in 2001,
and the Medal with
a Purple Ribbon from
the Japanese government
in 2004.
In his exploration
of chimp intellect,
Dr. Matsuzawa
has worked extensively
with two chimpanzees-
Ai and her son Ayumu.

Two main assignments
are given to them.
One assignment is
to learn numbers.
They understand numbers
or Arabic numbers.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
6 , 7, 8, 9.
We taught them
the numbers 1 to 9 first.
And now we are trying
to teach them 1 to 19.
If I’m not mistaken,
their lesson for today is
to learn from 1 to 13 or so.
And sometimes
the numbers 18 and 19
also appear on screen.
Just now you have watched
how Ai and Ayumu
learned the numbers
1 to 19 quite well.
The highlight of this study
is using numbers
in research on memory.

Who is better
when it comes
to memorizing numbers –
a human or a chimpanzee?
When there’s
barely enough time
for the human eye
to scan the numbers
on a computer screen,
chimps are able to
quickly memorize
the numbers
and their location
with higher accuracy
than humans.

Our study has revealed
that a chimpanzee has
a better memory
than a man does.
To be more precise,
seven figures appear
on the computer screen.
Like 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9.
3 and 6 are skipped.
We show numbers
between 1 and 9,
with two numbers skipped,
and let them touch
the smallest number,
for example, 1.
Then, the other six numbers
all change into
white tetragons.

This is quite difficult.
It takes about 0.6 seconds
for Ayumu to touch
the first one after he says,
“Please give me
a question.”
It means that in a moment
he memorizes the number
that appears on screen
for only 0.6 seconds
and where it was located.
You must have realized
that a chimpanzee has
a very good memory
since you have seen it
with your own eyes.
Right? I think
this study is probably
the world’s first example
proven scientifically
and objectively
that a baby chimpanzee
has a better memory
than a human child does.

Besides
understanding numbers,
Dr. Matsuzawa has found
that chimps are able to
learn how to read as well.

The other lesson
for Ai and Ayumu
that we showed you was
their learning of colors
and Chinese characters.
This lesson is to choose
the Chinese characters
signifying the color they saw
among 10 characters.
For example,
if they see red,
they should choose
the Chinese character
meaning the color red.
Vice versa, if they see
the Chinese character
for blue, they should
choose blue among
10 different colors.
This is also a lesson
using a PC.
It has demonstrated
that a chimpanzee can
learn and identify colors
in terms of letters
and decode letters and
understand the meanings.

Over the years
Dr. Matsuzawa
has spent much time
with chimpanzees,
and thus has developed
a deep affection
for these loving beings.
He is able to
express ideas to them and
interpret their response.

We communicate in
the following two ways.
When we enter
a chimpanzee’s room,
we talk to him or her
in our human way.
For instance, I say, “Sit.”
and “Open your mouth,”
by using gestures and signs.
I might use
Japanese sign language,
or American sign language.
Furthermore, I might use
spoken language.
So I use our full range of
communication methods.
But all are done
by a human's way
of communicating.
I communicate
my intentions
by indicating by gestures
or voice or spoken words.

And another way is
a chimpanzee’s
expression and utterance.
Therefore, I vocalize
"Ah Ah Ah Ah Ah"
to tell them my joy.
Their voice "Oh ho
Oh ho Oh ho Oh ho”
is saying "Hey!"
When there was
a commotion outside
among chimpanzees
just now, I was shouting
“Oh ho!” towards the
chimpanzees outside, and
Ai was responding to me.
By communicating
their way,
I became a chimpanzee.
I sometimes communicate
with a chimpanzee
by thinking and acting
as a chimpanzee.

To sum up,
I might communicate
with chimpanzees
by the human way,
or I might become
a chimpanzee
and communicate
a chimpanzee's way.
If you want to nurture
a close relationship,
you cannot help building up
such communication
day after day.
When you meet
chimpanzees every day,
and that continues
for one month,
one year, 10 years,
and then 30 years,
it is quite natural to
become close with them.

The bright chimps are
highly sociable
and affectionate beings
who treasure their family
and friends dearly.
Even though chimpanzees
live in a paternal society,
the mother-child
relationship is very close
and deep emotions
such as caring
and sympathizing
have been clearly observed
by researchers.

One of the
most impressive things
that sticks in my mind is
that the tie between
mother and child
is very strong.
Concerning a chimpanzee’s
child-raising,
the mother wholeheartedly
brings up her child
until the child becomes
five or six years old,
and then starts to give birth
to the next child.
Therefore,
I think that the bonds
between parents
and their child
are very strong.
A chimpanzee's mother
never scolds her child.
She never scolds,
nor beats,
nor ignores her child,
nor treats her child roughly.
The child can no longer
live if treated like that.

On the basis of the security
or dependence,
the child can gradually
part from the mother,
and become close
with companions
of other groups.
The safe base from which to
explore the outer world -
that is the role
of the mother.
I think that is
how the mother
shows her affection
toward her child, and
how love grows between
the mother and her child.
I think it’s splendid
and beautiful.

Many spiritual traditions
teach that it is best to live
in the present moment
and not to concentrate
on the past or the future
as this can create anxiety
or unhappiness for us.
From his research
Dr. Matsuzawa has found
that chimps can adapt to
highly challenging situations
and still maintain a
present-focused attitude.

Chimpanzees never change
when healthy or sick.
Of course
they are certainly sick,
so they might
suffer sometimes.
We have a chimpanzee
who is currently flat
on his back.
This chimpanzee has
lost weight, and is unable
to change position, thus
causing bad bedsores.
I could hardly bear it
if I were this chimpanzee
in this situation.
But this one does not seem
particularly depressed.
This chimpanzee was
mischievous in childhood,
and used to sip water
and then spit it out.
There was no change in
the mischievous character.

In that sense, I think
chimpanzees definitely
do not get depressed
about tomorrow.
Moreover, they do not
think about the week ahead
or how their future lives
will be, but they just
place importance
on the reality that they
are living here and now.
I think chimpanzees are
such beings by nature.
They are just what they are.
Chimpanzees never
give in to despair.
Because they are just
living in the here and now.

Sadly chimpanzees are
an endangered species
as harmful human actions
have led their numbers
to drastically decline
in recent times.

It was estimated
that at least one million
chimpanzees were alive
in Africa
about 100 years ago.
The number one million
was calculated
by using statistics of
habitat density: how many
chimpanzees populate
how wide an area,
and to what extent
the forests remain.
As you can understand,
the fundamental issue is
that their homes
which are forests
have been disappearing
day by day.
Because of it,
their habitats have been
shrinking more and more,
and now
there are only about
0.2 million chimpanzees.

The biggest problem is
shrinkage of forests.
One reason is that humans
have been cutting trees.
We cut trees
to produce paper.
Another is
to make farmland
by cutting down trees
in forests.
As population expands,
slash-and-burn
agriculture increases.
Either way,
this is the biggest issue
causing deforestation.

The second problem
is poaching.
Those who live in
tropical forests of Africa
hunt animals with guns
for food and
chimpanzees are their food.
The third problem
is disease.
For example, diseases
such as polio, Ebola, and
AIDS are shared between
humans and chimpanzees
via each infection route.
So human disease
can infect chimpanzees
and it can be fatal.
To sum up, deforestation,
poaching, and diseases:
all these human activities
are making the number of
wild chimpanzees decrease.

To help save
these vanishing primates,
Dr. Matsuzawa deeply
desires that his research
changes people’s hearts
so that humankind
recognizes that
all sentient beings
are family and thus
deserve our protection.

Let’s stop the dichotomy
of a human and an animal.
It is evident
that a man is not a plant,
but an animal.
There is no special animal
named man, but we are a
kind of the same animal.
Each animal is leading a
different life respectively.
We have come
to understand
that all living things are
made of all genetic codes
composed of four bases
of A, T, G, C:
adenine, thymine,
guanine, and cytosine.
It has been only 10 years
since this was discovered.

What surprised
researchers and scientists
is the finding that 40%
of the rice plant genes
are the same
as human genes.
In particular, we have
not so many genes
compared to other beings.
Nor are our genes
particularly complex.
Human genes look entirely
like that of other living
things and chimpanzees
and even the rice plants.

Therefore,
it has been several years
since we came
to truly understand
the reality of ties in life
and the scientific basis.
Just like there is
such an understanding
about humans as “We are
all the same beings,
or the same humans,”
similarly there is
the understanding that
“Each living thing itself
is interconnected.”
“To understand
living things apart from
the vision of the world
centering on humans”
might be the most
important message from
this study on chimpanzees.

Many thanks Professor
Tetsuro Matsuzawa
for showing the world
the many fundamental
similarities between
humans and chimpanzees.
We pray
that through realizing
the high intelligence
of our primate cousins,
humanity will soon truly
treasure and preserve
their lives and as well as
those of all of the other
magnificent animals
on our planet.

For more details
on Dr. Matsuzawa,
please visit

Peaceful viewers,
we enjoyed
your company today on
Animal World:
Our Co-Inhabitants.
Coming up next is
Enlightening Entertainment
after Noteworthy News.
May your life be blessed
by nobility and kindness.

Graceful viewers, welcome to Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. Today's show is the first in a two-part series where we explore the intelligence of chimpanzees and their sophisticated social structures with Dr. Tetsuro Matsuzawa, director of Kyoto University's Primate Research Institute in Inuyama City, Japan.

He has spent over three decades studying wild chimpanzees and made significant discoveries regarding their abilities and skills. He has published many books and papers based on his findings. Dr. Matsuzawa is also known for pioneering a new field of research called 『comparative cognitive science』 which involves studying chimpanzees for clues as to how human intelligence and behavior evolved over time.

Dr. Tetsuro Matsuzawa (m): The chimpanzee is the most intimate being, and can be called an evolutionary neighbor for a man. If we can understand a chimpanzee well, we can also understand animals other than human beings.

HOST: For his important research work on chimpanzees, Dr. Matsuzawa received the Prince Chichibu Memorial Science Award in １９９１, the Jane Goodall Award in ２００１, and the Medal with a Purple Ribbon from the Japanese government in ２００４. Let us now learn more about his study of these primates in Africa.

Supreme Master TV (f): We hear that you go to Africa every year. And you are also studying the social behavior of wild chimpanzees. First of all, please explain to us their family structure and how they live in the forests.

Dr. Tetsuro Matsuzawa (m): Chimpanzees live only in Africa. They exist nowhere else but the equatorial forests of Africa and areas of savanna surrounded by these forests. Their habitats are distributed widely from Tanzania in the east to Guinea or Senegal in the west. Their family or their society is mostly made up of tens of chimpanzees or sometimes over a hundred. So they live together in groups. The group consists of multiple male and female adult chimpanzees, and of course their children.

Male baby chimpanzees stay among the group all their lives. But female chimpanzees leave the group or transfer to the next or nearby group whenever they reach adulthood or enter puberty and are ready to give birth. We call it a paternal society meaning a society built on fathers.